Equality and Human Rights Commission

Philip Davies: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities if she will place in the Library a copy of the guidance currently issued to managers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission on managing a diverse workforce.

Helen Grant: The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body and is responsible for its own staff management, including diversity training. The guidance papers requested are internal documents that were not intended for wider publication. However, I have asked the EHRC to send copies to my hon. Friend.

Gender

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities what guidance she has given to other Departments on commissioning publicly-funded research into gender differences in brain development and functioning.

Helen Grant: I have given no guidance to other Departments on commissioning publicly-funded research into gender differences in brain development and functioning.

LGBT People

Steve Reed: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities what steps he is taking to advance equal rights for LGBT citizens in the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Jennifer Willott: The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) continue to recognise the UK as the highest ranking country for human rights protection of LGBT people in Europe.
	The UK Government is a member of the European Network of Governmental LGBT Focal Points which enables us to disseminate good practice and insight from the UK. Other members include European Union member states.
	The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 will recognise legally valid marriages of same sex couples formed in other European countries as legal marriages in England and Wales. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in liaison with the Government Equalities Office, is also carrying out an exercise to gain recognition of marriages of same sex couples formed in England and Wales overseas, including in other European Union member states.

Women's Business Council

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities how many times the Women’s Business Council has met in 2014; and how many times Ministers met that council in the last 12 months.

Jennifer Willott: The Women’s Business Council has already met on two occasions this year to progress the recommendations in its report published in 2013: on 5 March 2014 and 24 April 2014.
	Women’s Business Council members have met with Minsters four times during the last 12 months.

Brunei

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) the Sultan of Brunei or (b) his representatives on the introduction of sharia criminal law in Brunei.

Hugo Swire: We remain concerned about the introduction of sharia criminal law in Brunei and have raised the matter with Brunei on several occasions. I raised the issue with Foreign Minister, Pehin Lim in October 2013. Senior Minister of State, my right hon. noble Friend Lady Warsi, visited Brunei and raised our concerns with HM The Sultan, Foreign Minister Prince Mohamed, the Attorney-General and State Mufti on 19 April. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Mr Vara), discussed the implementation of sharia with Brunei’s Attorney-General at the Commonwealth Law Ministers meeting on 6 May. We set out our concerns at the Universal Periodic Review of Brunei at the Human Rights Council on 2 May. We will continue to raise this issue with the Bruneian authorities.

Egypt

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to his Egyptian counterpart about the sentencing to death of 683 people in that country.

William Hague: The British Government is deeply concerned about the sentencing to death of 683 people by a court in Minya on 28 April. I made a statement on 28 April expressing my concern over the sentences and reports that some of the defendants may not have had adequate legal representation. On 2 April, during my last meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Fahmy, I raised the death sentences imposed on 529 people by the same court on 24 March, and asked the Egyptian Government to ensure that the defendants’ human and legal rights are properly upheld. The Government will continue to raise these concerns with the Egyptian Government.

Pakistan

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the fairness of the hearing of Asiya Noreen Bibi sentenced to death in 2011 at the provincial Lahore High Court.

Hugh Robertson: We receive regular reports on the case of Mrs Bibi and others facing charges of blasphemy in Pakistan and we are aware that a number of NGOs and other governments follow her case closely. We remain concerned about the case of Asia Bibi and would urge the courts in Pakistan to ensure a fair and swift hearing of her appeal due later this month.

Pakistan

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of Pakistan on (a) the fairness of the hearing of Asiya Noreen Bibi who was sentenced to death in 2011 at the provincial Lahore High Court and (b) providing adequate protection to judiciary officials to allow a further hearing to take place.

Hugh Robertson: We regularly raise the issue of blasphemy laws, and their misuse against both Muslims and religious minorities, at the highest levels in Pakistan and press the government to ensure fair trials. We remain concerned about the case of Asia Bibi and would urge the courts in Pakistan to ensure a fair and swift hearing of her appeal due later this month. The Prime Minister raised our concerns regarding these laws and the need for reforms during the recent visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Members of Parliament: Recall

David Hanson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to bring forward legislative proposals for the recall of hon. Members by their constituents.

Nicholas Clegg: The Government remains committed to introducing a recall mechanism which is transparent, robust and fair when parliamentary time allows. We reiterated this commitment in our response to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee’s report on recall.
	The Government’s legislative programme for the fourth Session of Parliament will be announced in the Queen’s Speech.

Political and Constitutional Reform

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the Government's political and constitutional reform priorities are for the remainder of the present Parliament.

Nicholas Clegg: The Government continues to work on political and constitutional reform, particularly on devolving more powers from Whitehall to our cities and regions.
	Work also continues on the implementation of Individual Electoral Registration, recall of MPs and implementing the statutory register of consultant lobbyists.

Electoral Register

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government is taking to raise the number of people registered to vote.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government is taking to raise the number of people registered to vote.

Greg Clark: The Government is introducing online registration as of 10 June in England and Wales which will make it more convenient to register to vote.
	In addition, five national organisations and every electoral registration officer in Great Britain are sharing £4.2 million funding aimed at maximising the rate of voter registration, as part of the transition to individual electoral registration. These organisations have received funding to find new ways of reaching a range of under-registered groups such as young people and encouraging them to register to vote.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities have achieved the highest increase in levels of voter registration in the last two years; and what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the practices leading to such increases are adopted in other local authorities.

Greg Clark: In 2012-13 the areas with the five largest percentage increases in the numbers registered on the local government register of electors were:
	Tower Hamlets
	Wycombe
	Cambridge
	East Lindsey
	City of Edinburgh
	In 2011-12 the areas were:
	Clackmannanshire
	Thanet
	West Lothian
	City of Edinburgh
	Shropshire UA
	The Government encourages local authorities to share best practice through the Expert Panel of electoral administrators, and various other forums in place to deliver Individual Electoral Registration.
	Guidance has also been available on the Association of Electoral Administrators’ website with examples of good practice which electoral registration officers can use to shape their work.

Referendums

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he has reviewed the efficacy of the guidance of the Electoral Commission on referendums; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark: The Government has not reviewed the efficacy of guidance produced by the independent Electoral Commission.

Domestic Violence

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many calls were made to the National Domestic Violence Helpline in 2013; and how many such calls mentioned use of (a) any weapon and (b) a firearm.

Norman Baker: The Home Office provides funding to the National Domestic Violence Helpline, which is run jointly by Women’s Aid and Refuge. Latest management information provided by Women’s Aid and Refuge sets out that in the first half of financial year 2013/2014 (April-September 2013), the National Domestic Violence Helpline received 78,894 calls.
	This data does not provide information on the number of calls that mention the use of any weapon or firearms.

Emergency Services: Telecommunications

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the potential benefits and risks of commercial mobile networks providing the emergency services communications network.

James Brokenshire: The potential benefits and risks have been considered in detail as part of the Outline Business Case, which recommended this direction of travel and was approved by the emergency services, lead departments and the devolved governments of Wales and Scotland during March 2014. These risks and issues will be updated as the Full Business Case is developed during the procurement phase, which was launched on 14 April 14.

Entry Clearances

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what representations she has received on removing the requirement to top up investments held by individuals on Tier 1 (Investor) visas;
	(2)  what representations she has received on extending the list of investment products that individuals can use to qualify for a Tier 1 (Investor) visa.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has had meetings with a number of immigration law firms who represent Tier 1 (Investor) clients in which these issues have been raised. The firms consider that removing the requirement to top up investments, and extending the list of qualifying investments, would attract more investors to the UK and encourage investments which would lead to greater returns.
	The Government is currently considering its response to the report on the Tier 1 (Investor) route published by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) on 25 February 2014, which made recommendations on these issues. We will announce our decisions in due course.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to the Minister for Immigration and Security dated 10 March 2014, from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms S Ejaz.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 6 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 13 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs S Rajabbi.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 6 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 17 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr A A Dada Shzadeh.

James Brokenshire: A Home Office official replied to the right hon. Member on 2 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 17 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr M Barzi.

James Brokenshire: I replied to the right hon. Member today, 13 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 19 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr F Mir.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 8 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to the Immigration and Security Minister dated 27 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Dr M Hatamleh.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 6 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to the Minister for Immigration and Security dated 16 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms S Ejaz.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 6 May 2014.

Proceeds of Crime

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with which countries the UK has asset sharing agreements for the purposes of freezing, confiscating and repatriating the proceeds of crime; and how many such agreements have been reached since 2010-11.

Karen Bradley: The UK is party to a number of multilateral international agreements that contain asset recovery and asset sharing provisions. These include the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime, the UN Convention Against Corruption and the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime. The UK does not require a formal international agreement to be able to cooperate with another country in respect of freezing, confiscating and sharing or repatriating the proceeds of crime but does have 37 bilateral mutual legal assistance agreements with other countries including such provisions. These are:
	1. Algeria
	2. Antigua and Barbuda
	3. Argentina
	4. Australia
	5. Bahamas
	6. Bahrain
	7. Barbados
	8. Brazil
	9. Canada
	10. Chile
	11. Colombia
	12. Ecuador
	13. Grenada
	14. Guyana
	15. Hong Kong SAR
	16. India
	17. Ireland
	18. Italy
	19. Jordan
	20. Libya
	21. Malaysia
	22. Mexico
	23. Netherlands
	24. Nigeria
	25. Panama
	26. Paraguay
	27. Philippines
	28. Romania
	29. Saudi Arabia
	30. Spain
	31. Sweden
	32. Thailand
	33. UAE
	34. Ukraine
	35. Uruguay
	36. USA
	37. Vietnam
	The agreements with Jordan and Malaysia have been concluded since 2010.
	There are a further six bilateral agreements limited to the issue of asset sharing. These are:
	1. Canada
	2. Jersey
	3. Hong Kong SAR
	4. Ireland
	5. Jamaica
	6. Netherlands
	These were all concluded prior to 2010.

UK Visas and Immigration Directorate

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were employed by the UK Visa and Immigration Directorate on 1 April 2014.

James Brokenshire: The number of people (paid and unpaid civil servants as well as agency and contractors substituting as civil servants) employed by UK Visas and Immigration on 31 March 2014 was 7,107 (6,598.67 full-time equivalent).
	In line with Office for National statistics guidelines, all Government Departments are required to report their official statistics relating to numbers of employees using calendar month end dates. This answer has therefore been provided using information as at 31 March 2014 rather than 1 April 2014.

Family Courts

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of (a) judges and (b) magistrates who deal with family court cases are (i) male and (ii) female.

Shailesh Vara: The Government is committed to judicial diversity—it is important that judges and magistrates reflect the diverse communities in which they serve. I am able to provide an answer to the first part of the question—the following table provides the gender breakdown of judges who deal with family cases.
	
		
			  Number Percentage 
			 Male 765 65 
			 Female 411 35 
			 Total 1,176 — 
		
	
	I am unable to provide an answer to the information requested about magistrates—to do so would require each of the 47 local advisory committees to check the individual personal records of all of the family court magistrates in their respective areas. This would incur disproportionate costs. Information on magistrates’ diversity more generally is published on the judiciary website at:
	http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications-and-reports/statistics/magistrates-statistics
	In relation to my hon. Friend’s question about the gender profile of magistrates who sit in the family court, I trust it will be of some assistance if I explain that the gender profile for the 21,641 serving magistrates overall is currently 10,317 (48%) male and 11,324 (52%) female.

Health: Research

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to ensure that the proposed General European Data Protection Regulation does not prevent health research involving personal data from taking place.

Simon Hughes: The Government is aware of the concerns raised by representatives of the research community about amendments to the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation that could prevent health research involving personal data from taking place. These concerns centre on amendments to the proposed Regulation that have been agreed by the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee of the European Parliament.
	The Government’s view is that the ability of researchers to process personal data in the way that they are legitimately able to do so at present must be preserved. The Government is alert to the concerns raised and will continue to engage with representatives of the research community about the processing of personal data for medical research purposes under the proposed Regulation.
	Negotiations on the EU data protection framework are ongoing and the final text will be subject to the co-decision of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament under the ordinary legislative procedure. However, negotiations have yet to begin between the Council and the Parliament as the Council has not yet agreed a position on the text.

Magistrates' Courts

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of magistrates' use of two year sentencing powers; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: A Detention and Training Order, the main custodial sentence for children and young people, can be up to 24 months in length and is available to magistrates sitting in the Youth Court. The Government has not made an assessment of magistrates use of this order.
	There are a range of disposals available to magistrates when dealing with children and young people which are designed to address offending behaviour. Through our reforms this Government has taken steps to improve the youth sentencing framework.

Northern Ireland

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he last met the Minister for Justice in Northern Ireland; and what subjects were discussed at this meeting.

Damian Green: The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) had a meeting with David Ford, the Northern Ireland Justice Minister on 6 February 2013 in Belfast at which they discussed matters of mutual interest in relation to justice policy.

Police Cautions: Copeland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many police cautions were issued in Copeland constituency in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Home Department.
	Simple cautions (previously police cautions) are a non-statutory disposal available to the police to dispose of any offence committed by an adult designed for dealing with low level, mainly first time offending. The Ministry of Justice issues guidance on the process to be followed by the police and the CPS when they are administering simple cautions for adult offenders
	The Government is clear that serious offences should always be brought to court, and to ensure that there is increased public confidence in the justice system, last year announced changes to stop the use of cautions for indictable only offences and certain serious either way offences unless there are exceptional circumstances and a senior police officer, as well as the CPS for certain cases, has agreed that a caution should be administered.
	The MOJ guidance on Adult Simple Cautions was amended in November last year to reflect these changes, and we are legislating in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to place statutory restrictions around their use.
	Information on cautions is not held by parliamentary constituency. This information may be on the police record, which can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Prisoners: Per Capita Costs

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average monthly cost of maintaining someone in prison is.

Jeremy Wright: The Department routinely publishes full details of average costs per prisoner and place, based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison and in summary form for the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year. The most recently published figures are for financial year 2012-13 (1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013). The overall average annual cost per prisoner is £34,766 for financial year 2012-13. This equates to an average monthly cost of £2,897 per prisoner.
	The information for financial year 2012-13 is published as an Addendum to the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts and available on the Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201213
	Continuing to reduce prison unit costs is one of the key targets for the Department.
	Between 2009-10 and 2012-13 prison unit costs (direct prison costs only) have reduced in real terms by 10% per place and 8% per prisoner.
	Furthermore, the Government is committed to delivering reform in our public services. The Prison Competition Phase One Programme will deliver efficiency savings, in line with other public sector prisons, over the next four years.

Prosecutions

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average length of time is between a defendant being charged and the first day of proceedings in court in cases of (a) domestic violence, (b) sexual abuse and (c) rape.

Damian Green: The Government is committed to modernising courts and using technology to improve efficiency.
	The average (median) number of days taken from charge to first listing in court for completed criminal cases (domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape) in England and Wales, annually 2010-13, is shown in table 1.
	The way in which offence level data is collected and reported means that some offences are not separately identifiable from others. The information presented in table 1 relates only to those offences which can be separately identified from others and relates specifically to the legislation listed under a given category. Statistics on domestic violence have not been provided due to the reason outlined above and therefore excluded from table 1.
	
		
			 Table 1: Average (median) number of days taken from charge to first listing for all completed criminal cases, in England and Wales, annually 2010-131, 2, 3, 4 
			  Sexual abuse5 Rape6 
			  Defendants Charge or laying of information to first listing (days) Defendants Charge or laying of information to first listing (days) 
			  Number Median Number Median 
			 2010 Q2-47 3,757 11 1,370 2 
			 2011 4,825 12 2,125 6 
			 2012 4,370 13 2,107 2 
			 2013 4,097 15 2,099 2 
			 1 Excludes breaches and cases with an offence to completion time greater than 10 years. 2 Statistics are sourced from linked magistrates courts and Crown court administrative data systems—with a match rate of around 95%. 3 Only one offence is counted for each defendant in the case. If there is more than one offence per defendant that complete on the same day, a set of validation rules applies to select one offence only and these relate to the longest duration, seriousness and the lowest sequence number of the offence. 4 Included all criminal cases which have received a verdict and concluded in the specified time period, in either the magistrates courts or the Crown court. 5 Sexual abuse offences refer to the sum of the detailed offences such as sexual assault, sexual activity and familial sexual offences under Sexual Offences Act 2003. 6 Rape offences refer to the sum of the detailed offences such as rape and attempted rape under Sexual Offences Act 2003. 7 Timeliness figures are only available from April 2010, so data for 2010 is presented above for Q2 to Q4 only. Source: Criminal Court Statistics, Justice Statistics Analytical Services.

Direct Selling

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to protect consumers from fraud and other doorstep crimes.

Jennifer Willott: The Government takes doorstep crime very seriously and the issue has been identified as a top priority by the Consumer Protection Partnership (CPP) which brings together enforcement, consumer education, and advocacy partners to identify, prioritise and coordinate collective action to tackle the issues causing greatest harm to consumers.
	Both the National Trading Standards Board (NTSB) and Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), which are funded by BIS, are putting resources into tackling doorstep crime and Trading Standards Officers across the country are cracking down on these fraudsters. In Lincolnshire for example, Trading Standards has teamed up with the Police and Community Lincs to raise awareness of doorstep crime amongst professionals caring for the elderly, including awareness of bogus callers, rogue traders, distraction burglary, and scam mail. To date 330 health and social care professionals who work regularly with 4,300 elderly and vulnerable people have been trained in how to spot potential victims and how to intervene at an early stage of a scam.
	Doorstep Crime will also be the focus on this year’s National Consumer Week in November 2014, when CPP Partners and the Government will work together to in raise consumer awareness of how to spot a bogus salesperson and where to report it.
	We are also hitting the perpetrators of fraud hard. A recent operation involving Trading Standards companies across the country and 20 police forces brought down a trio of fraudsters targeting vulnerable caravan park residents across the country. This resulted in six years of custodial sentences being handed down and the recovery of £20,000 in cash.
	We encourage anyone who believes that they have been the victim of doorstep crime or fraud to contact the Citizens Advice Consumer helpline on 08454 040506.

Mangoes: India

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions, he has had with (a) EU officials, (b) Indian authorities and (c) affected UK businesses regarding the European Commission's ban on the import of Indian mangoes.

Dan Rogerson: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has met with the Indian high commissioner to discuss the ban on imports of mangoes from India and will be working with the European Commission and other member states to facilitate a lifting of the ban subject to the necessary plant health standards being achieved. DEFRA officials have discussed the issue with the main trade association, the Fresh Produce Consortium, both prior to and following the introduction of the ban and also recently with the National Asian Business Network.

Mink

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to control mink.

George Eustice: The Government is not undertaking any nationwide action to control mink. However, landowners are free to control mink on their land as long as they do so humanely and within the law. Advice on controlling mink can be obtained from Natural England. As a non-native species, it is an offence to release mink into the wild and I would encourage landowners to control them wherever practical.
	The Environment Agency is not directly involved in any mink control programmes in England. It does, however, contribute a small amount of annual funding to the Wildlife Trusts and some other local organisations towards the cost of local water vole conservation projects. Some of these projects may involve an element of mink control. The Environment Agency is one of a number of contributors to these projects.

Radio Frequencies

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations he has received on privatising a larger share of the radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Government is aware of the need to put more spectrum into the market to support innovation and growth and launched the Public Sector Spectrum Release Programme in 2011. This programme aims to release 500 MHz of sub-5GHz spectrum from public sector use by 2020. One of the early actions was to gauge stakeholder demand at a series of events. The most recent programme update was published on 10 March 2014. On the same day Government published the UK Spectrum Strategy which sets out a vision for efficient and flexible spectrum management, with specific actions and the goal of doubling the contribution of spectrum use to the economy by 2025. Both documents can be found on the gov.uk website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spectrum-strategy

Northern Ireland Government

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to her answer of 30 April 2014, Official Report, column 723W, on Northern Ireland government, when she last met with the Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development.

Theresa Villiers: I am in regular contact with the Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development on several issues. I last met him on 8 May 2014. I am due to meet him again shortly.

School Meals

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education in which local authorities 30 per cent or more pupils entitled to free school meals are not claiming them; and what steps he is taking to improve the take-up of free school meals.

David Laws: The Department for Education routinely collects information on pupils who are both eligible for and claiming free school meals. This information is published in the “Schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2013” Statistical First Release, available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2013
	Identifying pupils who are eligible for but not claiming free school meals is more difficult.
	The Department has published a research paper, “Pupils not claiming free school meals: 2013”, available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupils-not-claiming-free-school-meals-2013
	which presents estimates of the number and proportion of pupils who are entitled to receive free school meals but are not claiming. The paper compares registration rates for children aged between four and 15 and highlights regions and local authorities where under-registration rates are high. A table showing under registration rates by local authority can be found in the annex.
	The Department has developed a free school meals eligibility checking system (ECS). The ECS enables local authorities to check very quickly and determine whether a parent can claim free school meals by linking benefits information from DWP, HMRC and the Home Office. It represents a significant achievement in reducing bureaucracy and cost for local authorities and encouraging more parents to sign up their children for a free school lunch. The ECS has been extended to allow parents to check their own eligibility, and to apply online, for free school meals. The new system reduces the time, stigma and bureaucracy previously associated with applications for free school meals.
	Resources are also available from the Children’s Food Trust to help schools increase take-up of free school meals, available at:
	http://www.childrensfoodtrust.org.uk/resources/fsm/free-school-meals-matter-toolkit

Schools: Admissions

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to rule-out the introduction of fees for admission to over-subscribed schools supported by public funds.

David Laws: Education legislation prevents all state-funded schools from charging for admission. The School Admissions Code, which applies to all state-funded schools (including academies and free schools through the terms of their funding agreements), further enforces this. I have no intention of changing this legislation.
	The School Admissions Code can be accessed at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code

Employment Schemes: Young People

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what underspend there has been on the Youth Contract scheme; and how any such underspend has been used.

Esther McVey: The Government has announced a number of measures to reallocate the Youth Contract underspend.
	In July 2013, the Deputy Prime Minister announced that out of the £1 billion initially allocated to the Youth Contract, £50 million of underspend would be made available to City Deals to support local youth initiatives. Additionally £5 million of funding was made available to the devolved Administrations to support further youth schemes.
	Funding of £35 million was also allocated to extend the successful New Enterprise Allowance scheme. The scheme has already helped over 40,000 people start up their own business. A further £20 million was allocated for start-up loans.
	Further funds were allocated to enable pilots for 18 to 21-year-olds with low levels of skills including maths and English, and 16 to 17-year-olds to receive help from Jobcentre Plus.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department first approached the Computer Electronics and Surveillance Group of GCHQ about security in the universal credit IT system.

Esther McVey: Similarly to other Government Departments, DWP has a long history of working with GCHQ on issues of security as and when necessary.
	Part of GCHQ, The Computer Electronics and Surveillance Group are the national lead for information assurance. The Department has been working with them from the start of universal credit design to develop the IT security of universal credit. We continue to work closely to ensure that all aspects of the system are appropriately secured.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he commissioned recruitment firms to assist in the appointment of a new Director General for Universal Credit.

Michael Penning: The director general of universal credit was appointed on a two-year contract to May 2015. To ensure a smooth transition in advance of the next general election, the search for a replacement to lead the programme through to its completion will commence in due course.

Air Passenger Duty

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect on GDP of the reform to the air passenger duty banding system announced in the 2014 Budget; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will commission a dynamic modelling study on the economic effects of air passenger duty; and if he will make a statement.

Nicky Morgan: The economic and fiscal effects of Government policies are routinely assessed by the Office for Budget Responsibility. Information can be found in the OBR’s economic and fiscal outlook, at:
	http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-march-2014
	The Government expects the reform to air passenger duty announced in Budget 2014 to support export trade confidence by strengthening UK links to overseas markets.
	The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), keeps the use of dynamic modelling under review.

Minimum Wage

Liz Kendall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which social care providers have been identified by HM Revenue and Customs as non-compliant with national minimum wage legislation; how much is owed in arrears by each such provider and to how many workers; and what value of fines have been levied on such providers to date.

David Gauke: The Government takes the enforcement of national minimum wage (NMW) very seriously and HMRC enforce the national minimum wage legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and has done so since the introduction of NMW in April 1999. It does that by investigating all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, in addition carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW across the whole of the UK.
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have a legal duty of confidentiality towards their customers. For NMW, this includes employers and their workers. This means that HMRC cannot supply all the information requested as this would breach HMRC’s statutory duty of confidentiality under s18(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.
	Fines are associated with criminal offences. Where minimum wage arrears are identified for any pay reference periods starting on or after 6 April 2009, the employer will be charged an automatic penalty. The rate of the penalty charge was 50% of the arrears falling in pay periods after 6 April 2009 (minimum penalty charge was £100 and the maximum was £5,000).
	The Government has increased the financial penalty percentage from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers, and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. These new limits are now in force where arrears are identified in pay reference periods on or after 7 March 2014. The Government will also bring in primary legislation as soon as possible so that the maximum £20,000 penalty can apply to each underpaid worker.
	To ensure that underpaid workers receive the arrears of national minimum wage due to them, HMRC contacts every employer for confirmation that they have paid the arrears to workers. In cases where five or fewer workers are owed arrears HMRC also contacts all those workers for confirmation of payment. In cases where more than five workers are identified as being owed arrears HMRC contacts an additional sample of workers for confirmation of payment.
	HMRC records information by Standard Industry Codes. The following table shows the number of employers in the Social Care sector found to be non-compliant with NMW legislation in the last year. Also shown are the value of arrears, the number of underpaid workers identified and the value of penalties issued to employers as a result of those investigations.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of employers recorded as Social Care Sector and found to be non-compliant Arrears identified during those investigations Underpaid workers identified during those investigations Penalties issued during those investigations 
			 2013-14 30 £800,883 3,620 £46,020

National Insurance Contributions: New Businesses

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employers participated in the regional employer National Insurance contributions holiday in each region.

David Gauke: This Government is committed to helping UK businesses grow and create jobs. The NICs holiday was a temporary, targeted scheme to help start ups take on new staff within their first year of trading. Although take up was lower than expected, the holiday benefitted over 26,000 businesses and supported over 90,000 jobs.
	Building on the lessons learnt from the holiday, we are taking action to reduce the employer NICs burden on small businesses and have created the new employment allowance which is simple to administer, permanent and available to all business and charities in the UK, this is reducing their employer NICs bill by up to £2,000 each year. As a result, 450,000 employers will pay no NICs at all in 2014-15.
	According to the latest available figures the break down of employers that applied for the national insurance holiday by region, throughout the scheme is as follows:
	
		
			 Region Total 
			 Northern Ireland 1265 
			 Scotland 3975 
			 Wales 1695 
			 East Midlands 2645 
			 North East 1840 
			 North West 4840 
			 South West 3975 
			 West Midlands 3100 
			 Yorks. and Humber 3265 
			 Total 26600 
		
	
	The NICs holiday attracted around 26,600 applicants over a three year period. Further statistical information on the scheme is available on a factsheet at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/nics-hol.htm
	The factsheet only covers periods from the start of the scheme to December 2012.

Electricity

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether all independent renewable energy generators will have agreed project terms with their financiers at the time of submitting a Contracts for Difference auction bid.

Michael Fallon: The Government is committed to ensuring that a broad range of developers and projects are able to access the CfD, and is introducing the Offtaker of Last Resort (OLR) to guarantee independent renewable generators a route to market and improve their ability to raise project finance. Ultimately the financing of individual projects is a matter for developers. Projects applying for CfDs will be at different stages of development, including the extent to which they have engaged with and/or agreed terms with financiers. However, the CfD offers a number of important advantages over the renewables obligation, including providing developers and their financiers with the certainty of a private-law contract which will be awarded to successful projects years ahead of the point at which some projects can accredit under the renewables obligation.

Housing: Construction

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made on plans to increase house building by 2030.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 23 January 2014
	: The Government does not have a Whitehall building target. The last Administration had a state target to increase house building to 240,000 dwellings a year, yet house building then fell to its lowest peacetime rate since the 1920s.
	By contrast, the coalition Government has put in place a range of measures to get Britain building again, fix the broken housing market and help hard-working people get the home they want.
	Action taken includes wide-ranging planning reform through National Planning Policy Framework; new incentives to deliver housing growth through the New Homes Bonus; as well as the Government’s broader long-term economic plan to tackle the deficit left by the last Administration and keep interest rates down. I would note:
	We have already delivered 420,000 new homes since 2010.
	New orders in residential construction have risen to their highest level since 2007 according to the Office for National Statistics;
	Housing starts are at their highest since 2007 according to DCLG figures;
	The number of first time buyers is at its highest since 2007 according to the Council for Mortgage Lenders;
	Repossessions are at their lowest since 2007, according to the Council for Mortgage Lenders; and
	New home registrations rose by 30% in 2013 in England, the highest since 2007, and are up 60% in London, according to the NHBC.
	In relation to specific programmes:
	Affordable housing
	170,000 affordable homes have been delivered in England since April 2010.
	Our Affordable Homes Programme will deliver 170,000 homes over the current spending review period (2011-2015) levering in £19.5 billion of public and private funding. We have announced a new ‘Affordable Rent to Buy’ scheme which will deliver affordable homes through a recoverable fund. We have also published details of a new Affordable Homes Programme for the next spending period, which will lever in up to £23 billion in public and private funding to deliver 165,000 homes from 2015 to 2018.
	The Affordable Housing Guarantee Scheme is worth up to £3.5 billion (with further lending capacity held in reserve according to demand) and supported by up to £450 million grant funding in England. Up to 30,000 additional affordable homes will be underway by December 2017. Affordable Housing Finance Plc was awarded the licence for the Affordable Housing Guarantee Scheme in June 2013. The first eight housing associations to be approved to borrow through the scheme were announced in January 2014, who will raise over £400 million of debt to facilitate the delivery of over 4,000 new affordable homes. We also announced a European Investment Bank loan facility worth £500 million. More borrowers will follow.
	The Right to Buy Scheme, allowing eligible social tenants to buy their homes at a discount has achieved almost 24,000 sales since April 2010, with the majority (16,200) since we reinvigorated the scheme in 2012. A total of 2,845 council properties were sold between October and December last year, a 42% increase on the same period in 2012. The reinvigorated Right to Buy ensures, for the first time, that the receipts from the additional sales, that is those over what was forecast prior to the change, are reinvested in helping to fund new homes for affordable rent. So far, £300 million has been generated from additional sales and already over 2,000 homes have been started on site or acquired since April 2012.
	Home ownership schemes (Help to Buy)
	Since April 2013, the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme has offered buyers a 20% equity loan that can be used towards the cost of buying a new build homes, allowing people to buy with a 5% deposit. There were over 30,000 reservations and 19,394 completed loans across England by the end of March 2014, with funding for up to 74,000 sales by March 2016. Alongside this, the Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme has so far supported a further 5,173 households purchase new build homes by the end of March 2014. The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme was extended through the 2014 Budget announcement to 2020 to help 120,000 more households purchase a new build home.
	The FirstBuy scheme was announced in the Budget 2011 to help support 10,000 first time buyers on the property ladder. The scheme was replaced in April 2013 with Help to Buy. There were 11,590 FirstBuy sales to the end of March 2014.
	Since the end of last year, the Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme is providing up to £12 billion of Government guarantees to support people to buy with a 5% deposit, and over 2,500 homes have so far (by the end of January 2014) been brought through this route, and has helped lower interest rates for those with smaller deposits. The three Help to Buy schemes complement each other, and their success can be taken in the whole.
	Private rented sector
	The £1 billion Build to Rent programme, which provides development phase finance, is supporting new high quality development purpose built for private rent and is on track to create up to 10,000 new homes. The programme received £1.4 billion of bids under Round One, which is expected to support 15 developments which will provide over 2,600 homes across England in locations which include Durham, Liverpool, Manchester and London. Five contracts to the combined value of over £74.5 million have already been agreed which will deliver over 1,000 new homes for private rent; construction has already started in Southampton (Centenary Quay) and Manchester (Three Towers); more contracts will follow.
	Bidding for Round Two of the Build to Rent Fund was significantly oversubscribed receiving 126 bids to the value of around £3 billion. 36 projects on the shortlist from Round Two are now going through a competitive due diligence process, with successful bids receiving funding to deliver thousands of new homes. A list of all shortlisted bids has been placed in the Library of the House. The shortlist is over-programmed, meaning not all shortlisted projects will receive funding. Shortlisting and due diligence are the first stages of the Build to Rent approval process. The Homes and Communities Agency will continue to work with bidders until exchange of contracts in order to ensure value for money for taxpayers.
	In addition to direct funding, the Government’s Private Rented Sector Taskforce is continuing to build the private rented sector as an investment market and have identified £10 billion of domestic and foreign investment available in the private rented sector.
	The Private Rented Sector Guarantees scheme will provide a government guarantee for up to £3.5 billion debt (with further lending capacity held in reserve according to demand) for borrowers investing in new build private rented sector homes across the UK. The guarantees will use the UK Government’s hard earned fiscal credibility to help lower the cost of borrowing and incentivise investment in the sector. DCLG is open for business to issue direct guarantees and is actively discussing potential applications with a number of borrowers looking to invest in large scale developments. On 18 March, we also launched a procurement inviting bids from the market to be our delivery partner for Private Rented Sector Housing Debt Guarantees, with the aim of maximizing take up of guarantees including for small and medium enterprises. My Department will be evaluating bids to perform the role in due course.
	Infrastructure and development finance
	The Get Britain Building investment fund has been provided over £500 million of finance to unlock smaller stalled sites. As at February 2014, it has helped kick start 11,893 new homes on stalled sites.
	The Growing Places Fund is providing £770 million to deliver the infrastructure needed to unlock stalled schemes that will promoted economic growth, create jobs and build homes. The fund has been fully allocated to Local Enterprise Partnerships and the devolved administrations to fund local projects. Progress updates in June 2013 reported that £652 million of capital funding had been allocated to 305 projects across England. Local Enterprise Partnerships expect these projects to create 4,900 businesses, 94,000 jobs and 27,000 houses. A further update will be published in due course.
	The £474 million Local Infrastructure Fund is helping to unlock large scale housing developments. To date, we have unlocked 15 sites capable of delivering almost 80,000 homes through a combination of financial and non-financial support. We are currently working to unlock a further 13 stalled schemes to deliver up to 40,000 new homes. In addition to the capital investment, we have made available £13 million of capacity funding to support local authorities in fulfilling their local housing ambitions.
	The 2013 autumn statement also announced a further £1 billion to unlock development on large housing sites and a prospectus inviting bids was published on 14 April. During the Easter recess, we also published the Local Growth Fund (Housing Infrastructure) prospectus. This sets out the detail on how to access the £50 million part of the Local Growth Fund in 2015-16. It is designed to help speed up and restart housing developments between 250 and 1,499 units that have slowed down or stalled.
	The 2014 Budget announced further funding for driving up housing supply including a £525 million Builders Finance Fund to provide development finance for small sites to support the construction of 15,000 new homes; the prospectus has also recently been published.
	The Budget announced the intention to create an Urban Development Corporation for the Ebbsfleet area to accelerate the construction of a garden-city style development which will unlock up to 15,000 homes-with up to £200 million capital being made available. We have also published a prospectus to support further locally-led garden cities.
	A new Estate Regeneration Fund of £150 million of recoverable investment will help kick start and accelerate the regeneration of some of our most deprived estates. And we will work with the Greater London Authority to support the regeneration of Brent Cross and unlock 11,000 homes at Barking Riverside.
	We have also taken steps to scale back economically unrealistic section 106 agreements, such as from the last Administration’s housing bubble, which result in no housing development, no regeneration and no community benefits.
	Self-build
	The £30 million investment fund for Custom Build Homes is currently assessing loan funding of £22.6 million with the potential to deliver 270 units. At the 2014 Budget, we announced that the Government will consult on a new ‘Right to Build’ to give self builders a right to a plot from councils, a new £150 million investment fund to help provide up to 10,000 service plots, and announced will we look to extend Help to Buy equity to custom build. We have also exempted self-build from the Community Infrastructure Levy and we are consulting on a similar policy change for Section 106 tariffs.
	Empty homes
	This Government has provided £235 million of funding which aims to bring up to 12,000 homes back into use by March 2015. This is part of a wider package of measures to get empty homes and empty buildings back into productive use, in contrast to the last Administration’s policy of wholesale demolition. The numbers of empty properties in England have fallen to a 10-year low, and the number of long-term vacant properties has fallen by around a third since 2009.
	Public sector land
	The Public Sector Land Programme has identified land with capacity for over 100,000 homes which we aim to release to the private sector by March 2015. At the end of December 2013, we had released land capable of delivering 68,000 homes to be built.
	Through the Strategic Land and Property Review we have identified scope to generate £5 billion of receipts from government land and property between 2015 and 2020. This will put land and property into the hands of those who can exploit them for commercial purposes-creating opportunities for housing and economic development.
	This was part of a series of measures to support brownfield development, as outlined in more detail in the answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 780W.
	There is more to do, but I hope this illustrates how this Government’s long-term economic plan is helping build more houses, help people move on and up the housing ladder and clean up the mess left by the last Administration.

Local Government

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what criteria he will use to assess requests for extra powers from local enterprise partnerships and combined authorities.

Kris Hopkins: The Government is currently negotiating a ‘Growth Deal’ with every Local Enterprise Partnership, based on the Strategic Economic Plans they submitted in March 2014. The criteria being used to assess the plans are set out in the guidance published in July 2013. These are: ambition and rationale for intervention; value for money; and deliverability and risk. Combined authorities, where they exist, are represented in Local Enterprise Partnerships and will have been involved in the development of the Strategic Economic Plans.
	Notwithstanding, as I indicated to the right hon. Member in my answers to him of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 778W and 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 24W, we should be cautious about any measure which had the effect of transferring power upwards away from elected local councils. Decentralisation should devolve power to the lowest appropriate level.
	Combined authorities are relatively new bodies. They now should focus on using the functions and powers that they currently have and prove themselves on delivering local growth; we do not intend to repeat the “function creep” mistakes of the Regional Development Agencies which just became unwieldy and unfocused, taking on too much and failing to deliver.

Local Government and Local Enterprise Partnerships

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers and freedoms relating to (a) skills and employment, (b) housing and (c) economic development have been devolved since May 2010 to (i) local government and (ii) local enterprise partnerships.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 1 July 2013
	: The Government is taking considerable steps to devolve power and freedom to local government and Local Enterprise Partnerships.
	Through the Localism Act, councils now have the general power of competence that enables them to do anything that an individual might do, apart from that which is specifically prohibited. In addition we have radically reformed the local government finance system putting levers and incentives in the hands of local authorities, for instance:
	The removal of ring-fencing from local government grants has given councils the freedom and flexibility over the money they receive and allows them to work with their residents to decide how best to make their spending decisions to fit their local priority needs.
	Rewarded places that deliver growth, through the New Homes Bonus and Business Rate Retention.
	Local authorities now directly retain 50% of business rates locally which amounts to nearly £11 billion, instead of returning it to Whitehall.
	We established five pilot Rural Growth Networks aimed at tackling the barriers to economic growth in rural areas, such as a shortage of work premises, slow internet connectivity and fragmented business networks. These pilots expect to create up to 3,000 new jobs and support up to 700 new businesses, offering a local approach to local problems. We will share the lessons they learn with other Local Enterprise Partnerships and Local Authorities to help them promote growth in other rural areas.
	We have also given councils the ability to borrow against their Housing Revenue Account.
	Through the city deals programme we have devolved powers and responsibilities to 26 cities. For example we have:
	provided levers to deliver the skills and jobs that local businesses and people need;
	created joint investment programmes; and
	devolved greater financial powers and incentives to invest in growth to all cities.
	As we made clear in our response to Lord Heseltine’s review of Growth, we intend to go further. We have committed to negotiating Growth Deals with every Local Enterprise Partnership through which we will allocate the Local Growth Fund and negotiate broader powers, freedoms and flexibilities where a strong case for decentralisation can be made. The Local Growth Fund brings together funding from skills, housing and transport and we have committed £2 billion in 2015-16 and it will continue to be at least £2 billion a year up to 2021. The Local Growth Fund includes:
	over £6 billion of transport funding;
	£300 million of additional Housing Revenue Account borrowing;
	£50 million of Local Infrastructure Funding for housing developers; and
	£300 million skills capital funding.
	We are also for the first time putting £5 billion of European Structural Investment Funds for the 2014-20 period under the strategic direction of Local Enterprise Partnerships, bringing the total resource (including the Local Growth Fund) under the control of Local Enterprise Partnerships to over £17 billion up until 2020.

Local Government: Pay

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations he has received on levels of remuneration for local government executives.

Brandon Lewis: The Government regularly receives representations from concerned taxpayers on the levels of remuneration offered to senior local government officers. Whilst councils are independent employers we have taken steps to increase transparency and accountability on these local decisions.
	Under the Localism Act, councils are required to publish an annual pay policy statement setting out their approach to pay, in particularly senior pay. In guidance to which all councils must have regard when preparing their policy statements, we have said that full council should to vote on senior salaries and exit packages of £100,000 or more.
	Through the Transparency Code councils are required to publish on-line a range of workforce information including details of senior salaries for employees earning £50,000 or more and detailed organisation charts. This will further open up senior pay to greater public scrutiny. We also published “50 ways to save” a practical guide on how councils can make sensible savings in their budgets. This includes either cutting senior pay or looking at sharing chief executives and senior management teams. I would note that Ministers in this Government cut their salaries in 2010 and then froze them for the rest of this Parliament.

Local Government: Publications

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answers of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 29W, and of 21 November 2013, Official Report, columns 980-1W, on local government publications, if he will list all councils that publish magazines or newsletters more than four times a year.

Brandon Lewis: Further to the information provided in my previous answers, my Department has not at this point undertaken a recent, definitive survey of every council in the country. It is a moving picture, as the commencement of the Local Audit and Accountability Act has encouraged greater compliance with the Publicity Code—for example, further to my answer of 21 November 2013, Official Report, column 980W, I understand that East Northamptonshire has stopped its newspaper.
	Such local initiatives are preferable to intervention. Notwithstanding, I refer the right hon. Member to the written ministerial statement of 28 April 2014, Official Report, column 35WS, which outlines the rationale for the steps taken on 17 April against five specific councils with the worst breaches, and which notes how we are prepared to take further action against other breaches of the Publicity Code.

Solar Power: Planning Permission

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of solar farm planning applications were approved by local planning authorities in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014 to date.

Nicholas Boles: We do not hold aggregated information on planning applications for solar farms in the form requested. However, the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Renewable Energy Planning Database (RESTATS) includes information on a range of renewable energy projects above 0.01 megawatts, including applications for solar energy developments. The database tracks the progress of potential new projects from inception, through planning, construction and operational stages, and can be accessed at:
	https://restats.decc.gov.uk/cms/planning-database

Temporary Accommodation: Essex

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families were based in temporary accommodation in (a) Chelmsford constituency and (b) Essex in each quarter of the last five years.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 27 January 2014
	The Department does not collect constituency level data. A table has been placed in the Library of the House with data for Chelmsford City Council and Essex. To assist my right hon. Friend, I have provided quarterly data back for the last 10 years; the table illustrates how there are fewer households in temporary accommodation than the average under the last Administration.
	This Government has retained a strong homelessness safety net protected in law, supported by £470 million in the current spending review period to prevent and tackle homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions. We are seeing this investment making an impact with households now spending on average seven months less in temporary accommodation than at the start of 2010.
	We have also made some changes to the rules under the Localism Act to enable local authorities to end the main homelessness duty by arranging an offer of suitable accommodation in the private rented sector. This means households are likely to spend less time in temporary accommodation waiting for social housing to become available.

Urban Areas: Land Drainage

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations he has received on requiring car-parking areas around large retail developments to retrofit sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS); and what assessment he has made of the benefits for urban flood control of such retrofitting of SUDS.

Dan Rogerson: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
	We know of no such representations. The National Planning Policy Framework prioritises the use of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) in developments where possible. DEFRA officials have met representatives from leading supermarkets to discuss the use of SuDS and their benefits in retail developments. Case studies assessing the benefits of SuDS on commercial developments are available on the DEFRA funded SusDrain website at:
	www.susdrain.org

Developing Countries: Urban Areas

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals effectively recognise the potential human and environmental costs arising from a growing proportion of the global population living in urban slums.

Justine Greening: The Government is keen that the Sustainable Development Goals include measures to improve conditions for poor urban residents and address the issues that lead to the formation of slums. We continue to support the approach to urban issues set out in the report of the High Level Panel on post-2015 goals, co-chaired by the Prime Minister. This promotes a detailed consideration of the urban implications of each goal and target.

Nigeria

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of trends in the numbers of forced marriages in northern Nigeria over the last five years.

Lynne Featherstone: Data from the last, 2008, Demographic and Health Survey suggests that the median age at marriage for girls and women in the north is about 16 years. This compares with the national median age of about 20 years. The 2013, Demographic and Health Survey is expected to be released this summer and will enable us to assess if the situation is changing.

Ambulance Services

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average ambulance response time was in (a) Liverpool, (b) Merseyside and (c) England in each month since May 2007.

Jane Ellison: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following tables.
	
		
			 The median ambulance response times to treatment for category A1 calls in the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust2, 3, April 20114 to March 2014 
			  Median time to treatment for category A calls (in minutes) 
			 2011  
			 April 4.2 
			 May 5.0 
			 June 5.2 
			 July 5.0 
			 August 4.7 
			 September 4.8 
			 October 4.9 
			 November 4.9 
			 December 5.0 
		
	
	
		
			 2012  
			 January 4.8 
			 February 5.1 
			 March 5.0 
			 April 5.6 
			 May 5.7 
			 June 5.1 
			 July 5.1 
			 August 5.2 
			 September 5.3 
			 October 5.4 
			 November 5.4 
			 December 5.7 
			   
			 2013  
			 January 5.5 
			 February 5.6 
			 March 5.6 
			 April 5.8 
			 May 5.4 
			 June 5.5 
			 July 5.8 
			 August 5.7 
			 September 6.1 
			 October 6.0 
			 November 6.1 
			 December 6.1 
			   
			 2014  
			 January 5.8 
			 February 6.1 
			 March 6.1 
			 1 Category A calls are defined as those that are the result of immediately life threatening incidents. 2 North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust provides services to the Liverpool and Merseyside areas. Ambulance response times are not readily available for areas smaller than those covered by one ambulance trust. 3 It is not possible to calculate the median time to treatment for England from the medians for individual ambulance trusts. 4 Information is not available before April 2011. Source: Ambulance quality indicators, NHS England. 
		
	
	Before April 2011, data was collected annually in the KA34 Ambulance Statistics. This shows the annual trend in national ambulance activity has been increasing since 2007-08: from 4.3 million emergency journeys in 2007-08 to 5 million in 2012-13 (latest available).
	The performance of ambulance services is performance measured on a monthly basis against three response time standards. On the basis of these standards performance in the North West Ambulance Trust is broadly stable.
	
		
			 Percentage of category A calls responded to within 8 and 19 minutes in the North West Ambulance Trust between April 2011 and March 2014 
			 Percentage 
			 Financial year  Of all category A calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes (standard 75%)1 Of all Red 1 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes (standard 75%)2 Of all Red 2 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes (standard 75%)3 Of all category A calls resulting in an ambulance arriving, proportion within 19 minutes (standard 95%)4 
			 2011-12 April 75.2 n/a n/a 96.4 
			  May 74.2 n/a n/a 96.1 
			  June 74.1 n/a n/a 96.0 
			  July 76.9 n/a n/a 96.2 
			  August 80.8 n/a n/a 96.6 
			  September 78.0 n/a n/a 95.4 
			  October 77.4 n/a n/a 95.2 
			  November 78.0 n/a n/a 95.7 
			  December 75.6 n/a n/a 94.6 
			  January 79.1 n/a n/a 96.4 
		
	
	
		
			  February 75.6 n/a n/a 93.9 
			  March 75.7 n/a n/a 94.4 
			  2011-12 Total 76.7 n/a n/a 95.5 
			       
			 2012-13 April 77.3 n/a n/a 95.0 
			  May 76.3 n/a n/a 94.4 
			  June n/a 75.8 79.5 95.8 
			  July n/a 77.0 80.0 96.2 
			  August n/a 75.3 78.9 96.1 
			  September n/a 75.2 76.9 94.9 
			  October n/a 73.7 77.1 94.9 
			  November n/a 72.0 76.3 95.2 
			  December n/a 70.9 72.9 94.3 
			  January n/a 73.1 76.0 95.1 
			  February n/a 71.4 74.4 94.6 
			  March n/a 71.8 75.2 95.0 
			  2012-13 Total 76.8 73.5 76.6 95.1 
			       
			 2013-14 April n/a 75.7 78.6 96.2 
			  May n/a 77.8 80.8 96.8 
			  June n/a 79.6 81.1 96.6 
			  July n/a 75.4 77.9 95.6 
			  August n/a 78.9 79.6 96.0 
			  September n/a 71.9 75.5 94.8 
			  October n/a 74.2 76.5 95.5 
			  November n/a 74.0 74.8 94.5 
			  December n/a 74.8 75.2 95.0 
			  January n/a 77.1 78.2 95.8 
			  February n/a 75.3 76.0 96.4 
			  March n/a 75.3 75.4 96.3 
			  2013-14 Total n/a 75.9 77.4 95.8 
			 n/a = Not available. 1 From 1 June 2012, the reporting of ambulance category A response times to critically ill patients was split between Red 1 and Red 2. 2 Category A Red 1—where the call comes from a patient who is presenting conditions which may be life threatening, and where a response is the most time critical. 3 Category A Red 2—where the call comes from a patient who is presenting a serious condition which may be life threatening but may be less time critical than a Red 1 call. 4 Category A19—Category A call resulting in an ambulance arriving at the scene. Source: Ambulance quality indicators, NHS England.

General Practitioners

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 127W, if he will list the outlier practices and the amount each is forecast to lose as a result of removing performance indicators from the Quality Outcomes Framework.

Jane Ellison: The Department does not hold this information centrally, but details of practices identified by NHS England have been sent to area teams.
	As part of the changes to the General Medical Services (GMS) contract from April 2014, we have reduced the Quality and Outcomes Framework by more than a third. These changes are intended to free up space for general practitioners to provide more proactive and personalised care for their patients which includes their new responsibility of being accountable for all of their patients aged 75 and over.
	These changes were part of changes to GMS contract negotiated with the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association.

Liver Diseases

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with (a) liver disease and (b) viral hepatitis in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Ellison: Data is not collected on new cases of liver disease. Liver disease covers many individual diseases caused by different factors, such as alcoholic liver disease, fatty liver disease as well as hepatitis related diseases. The identification of new cases will take place in different settings, from general practice to hospital outpatients.
	The nearest proxy measure that we have is hospital admissions. However, hospital admissions only reflect the most serious cases when people are admitted to hospital. The number of hospital admissions for liver disease rose from 35,581 in 2001-02 to 57,682 in 2011-12, an increase of 62%.
	Hepatitis A, B, C and E are viruses that affect the liver. Where tests can differentiate acute from chronic infections, data is presented as newly acquired infections and where not, data is presented as newly diagnosed cases. Hepatitis surveillance data for 2013 will be available in August 2014.
	Cases of confirmed newly acquired hepatitis A virus infection are reported by laboratories to Public Health England.
	
		
			 Table 1: Hepatitis A laboratory reports (newly acquired infections), England (2002-2012). 
			  Number of hepatitis A reports 
			 2002 1,278 
			 2003 999 
			 2004 610 
			 2005 469 
			 2006 374 
			 2007 344 
			 2008 344 
			 2009 341 
			 2010 359 
			 2011 252 
			 2012 279 
		
	
	Data on acute hepatitis B infections are reported both from laboratories and from Health Protection Teams to Public Health England. Reporting in this way commenced in 2008.
	
		
			 Table 2: Reports of acute hepatitis B infections (newly acquired infections), England (2008-2012) 
			  Number of hepatitis B reports 
			 2008 620 
			 2009 597 
			 2010 512 
			 2011 589 
			 2012 554 
		
	
	Laboratory reports of newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C are reported to Public Health England.
	
		
			 Table 3: Laboratory reports of hepatitis C (newly diagnosed cases), England (2002-2012) 
			  Number of hepatitis C reports 
			 2002 4,809 
			 2003 5,570 
			 2004 6,240 
			 2005 6,295 
			 2006 6,961 
			 2007 7,808 
			 2008 8,407 
			 2009 8,862 
			 2010 7,882 
			 2011 9,917 
			 2012 10,873 
			 Note: At present serological tests are not able to differentiate between acute and chronic cases of hepatitis C infection. Therefore, laboratory reports of hepatitis C contain both recently acquired infections and past infections. For this reason the data represent newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C as opposed to newly acquired infections. Laboratory reports of confirmed cases of hepatitis E are reported to Public Health England. Surveillance began in 2003. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 4: Laboratory reports of hepatitis E (newly acquired infections), England (2003-2012) 
			  Number of hepatitis E reports 
			 2003 122 
			 2004 145 
			 2005 294 
			 2006 239 
			 2007 161 
			 2008 168 
			 2009 166 
			 2010 258 
			 2011 435 
			 2012 530

Medical Records: Databases

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 355W, on medical records: databases, if he will bar ATOS from having any involvement with care.data.

Daniel Poulter: The Public Contracts Regulations 2006, as amended, allow for suppliers to be classed as ineligible to bid for contracts in circumstances where the supplier or its representative has been convicted of criminal offences relating to conspiracy, corruption, bribery or fraud. Where this is not the case, suppliers must be treated equally and track record would be assessed in line with Government policy as part of any tendering process.

Nurses: Recruitment

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made the effect of recent NHS pay policy on the ability of the NHS to recruit and retain nursing staff.

Daniel Poulter: The aim of the Government’s pay policy is to fairly reward nurses and other staff while ensuring that pay is affordable and that front-line patient services are protected. Our assessment of this policy is that it has been effective in recruiting, retaining and motivating the nursing workforce. There are now more nurses than at any time under the previous Government.

Potatoes

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps his Department has taken to promote potatoes as part of a healthy diet.

Jane Ellison: The Government recommends eating plenty of starchy foods, including potatoes, as part of a healthy balanced diet, as depicted in the ‘eatwell plate’. This provides a visual representation of the types and proportions of the foods needed for a healthy, balanced diet and advises that starchy foods, such as potatoes, breads, cereals, rice and pasta should make up about a third of our diet.
	The Government utilises the eatwell plate alongside other mechanisms to promote the consumption of starchy foods, such as potatoes. This includes providing tips on healthy eating through the Live Well pages of the NHS Choices website and recipes through Public Health England’s social marketing campaign, Change4Life.

Royal Preston Hospital

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will investigate reports that the Neurology department at Royal Preston Hospital is allocating appointments to patients and then instructing them not to attend on the date and time given as the appointment is only made for consultants to view the patient's referral letter; whether (a) his Department for (b) NHS England issues guidance on the allocation of appointments which patients are instructed not to attend; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The allocation of appointments is a local matter for the national health service and the hon. Member should contact the chief executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for further information. We understand the Trust has already investigated this issue and posted an explanation on its website:
	www.lancsteachinghospitals.nhs.uk/neurology-non-appointment-letters

Strokes

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had on ways of improving awareness of transient ischaemic attacks on the part of (a) GPs, (b) staff in A&E departments and (c) other health staff.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is responsible for improving awareness of transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) among front-line health staff. In addition, both the recent Act FAST campaign conducted by Public Health England and the Stroke Association campaign launched last week will improve awareness of TIAs among professionals and the public alike.
	The provision of timely access to TIA clinics has greatly improved over recent years and more patients are having carotid surgery in a timely fashion than ever before. However, we recognise that there are still improvements to be made and part of the work of reorganising and modernising stroke services involves ensuring that TIA care is of the highest quality.